GeForce GT 640 card issues.

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StarScar

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Jan 4, 2013
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10,510
Hello.

I just bought a GeForce GT 640 graphics card and I just installed it on my Dell Inspiron 530. It doesn't seem to be working as my monitor is black and won't detect the HDMI or the analog cable. My monitor works fine, b/c I had to plug it into the analog port of the integrated graphics on the CPU.

I have no idea what could be wrong. My stock PSU meets the 350 W minimum requirements, but my computer isn't detecting the newly installed hardware.

Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.
 
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get into your mobo bios to check if the card is detected there or not.....what display do you get on your monitor?
remember that you might have to switch from on board graphics to pci-e.
if even that does not work,do consider the possibility that your card is DOA.

you can than RMA your card
 
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Coincidentally, I was thinking of getting a video card manufactured by EVGA. Maybe I could request a replacement from newegg.com and hope that that'll work. I'm guessing that you all can tell that I've never replaced a video card in my life. I didn't know that trying to getting working video card was somewhat like playing Russian roulette, as it were.

I'm wondering if maybe my motherboard can't run the card. I think I have a 0FM586 motherboard. That's the only other stock mobo for the Inspiron 530 that can mount an Intel Core2 Quad CPU.
 
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Oh, another thing I didn't mention after I had installed the new PSU. I actually had my old PSU disconnected before I removed it for a few days. The DC cables are really long. They're probably best suited for a bigger computer case. I had to remove one of my optical drives — which hasn't been working for over two years — to store all the unneeded cables and slack.

Still the same issues w/ powering up the computer. When I restarted the computer, a black screen appeared stating that it had detected an "add-on card" and that I should disconnect the monitor cable from the integrated graphics card and plug it into the new video card. Problem is that my monitor didn't detect the card, even the HDMI. It's not being detected in BIOS. It seems like the card is having difficulties functioning correctly. Definitely nothing wrong w/ my PCI-e slot.

I can't see the new video card in the BIOS.

Additional information of my PC are as follows:

BIOS info: 1.0.18
Service tag: 2P08HG1
Processor L2 Cache: 8192KB
Memory installed: 6144MB
Memory available: 6134MB
Memory speed: 800 MHz
Memory channel mode: Dual
Memory tech: DDR2 SDRAM

I might as well RMA for a replacement, or maybe I'll get a GeForce GTX 650 or GTX 550 Ti.
 
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Excellent. I'll get right on that. I'm just wondering whether I should merely get a replacement, or get a better card like a GTX 650 or 550 Ti. Maybe it's too much for my CPU. I should probably just get a replacement. I just wanna be able to play FO3 and FO:NV on high settings, but I'm also anticipating Wasteland 2, so it would be good to have a decent card.
 
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Sure.

CPU: Intel Core2 Quad 2.4 GHz
RAM: 6 GB
Windows Vista 64-bit and Windows 7 32-bit (dual boot)
Current GPU: ATI Radeon HD 3650
Disk Drive: ST3750630AS ATA 600 GB
PSU: 500 W Corsair GS

Everything is stock except the PSU. The Radeon came w/ the build. I'm currently using integrated graphics since I haven't bothered putting back the old video card since I've RMA'd the new card.
 
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GRRR, sometimes I hate Dell too much.

I think I found an answer on Dell forums scroll down to the end http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3515/p/19282490/19512113.aspx#19512113

This is about XPS 435 which was produced at about the same time as Inspiron 530

"I've recently found the problem after talking to Dell tech support all day. Apparently the motherboard manufacturer has cut a deal with ATI and the motherboards manufacturer for June and later are being locked to ATI cards only. Any nvidia cards are apparently being assigned wrong IRQ values and are thus unable to work.

6:53:30 PM Agent
its actually the manufacturer of the boards, its an agreement between the manufacturers, now since ATI did win the bidding for the default cards on the board, then it was defaulted to carry their cards.
6:54:35 PM Agent
the card should be compatible but since the boards that shipped out are the latest one's its possible that the "lock" took effect"

And the solution

"Ended up finding a solution, finally. Since the motherboard manufacturer is blocking Nvidia cards by messing with the IRQ settings, I flashed my BIOS from A09 back to A07 from the Dell driver support site and the new card works just fine."

So, basically you would need to get multiple versions of BIOS and try to go back, or forward from your current one.


Inspiron 530 Drivers page, just scroll down to BIOS and get all 3 versions http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/Product/inspiron-530

Get CPUID same as CPUZ at http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html find your BIOS version (under mainboard tab)

And most likely flash BIOS back, as the problem occurred around June 2009 (I know that the latest BIOS is March 2009), but this is the closest so far I was able to find, and the problem matches yours.
 
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you should be good with the gtx 650.
your other system specs are good enough.
all the best.

another small question.how did you get this 6gb of ram?
3x2gb or 4gb+2gb?
Click to expand...

Sounds good. Thanks a lot.

Ah, yes. I recently found out that the mobo I have supports a maximum of 4GB, but when I was ordering my computer from Dell and doing the usual customization for it, I was given the option to have 6GB of RAM on my PC. I guess a 3x2GB configuration is what's being used. I can't be sure, though. I haven't looked at the RAM sticks in my mobo.



That's the latest BIOS update I got from Dell.
 
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Kisianik, I'm gonna look into this. I've successfully RMA'd my GT 640, and I'll end up getting a GTX 650. I'll see if I have the same issues I did w/ the new card — once I get it — that I did w/ the GT 640. Hopefully, I'll be able to install it w/ no problems, but if I do encounter the same problem I've been having w/ the GT 640, then I'll try to flash my BIOS back.
 
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Then it just might be that that is actually the kind of mobo I have. The OFM586 and the G33m03 do look very similar.
 
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So I got CPU-Z and I'll list the information and specs from it so it'll all be in one post.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (Kentsfield) 2.40 GHz
BIOS info: 1.0.18 (latest)
Motherboard: OFM586
Windows Vista 64-bit and Windows 7 32-bit (dual boot on a single HDD)
Processor L2 Cache: 8192KB
Memory installed: 6144MB
Memory available: 6134MB
Memory speed: 800 MHz
Memory channel mode: Dual
Memory tech: DDR2 SDRAM
It would appear that my RAM is as follows: (2x2GB) + (2x1GB)
PSU: 500 W Corsair GS

Please let me know if I'm leaving out anything important.

So, my mobo is actually a mobo that is supposed to have a maximum of 4 GB of RAM, despite the fact that I have 6 GB of RAM.

If indeed my mobo has been designed to lockout non-ATI cards, then I would either need to flash my BIOS back to 07, or buy a new mobo. The former would probably be the easiest thing to do. I just worry of the possibility that this might not work for some reason. Suffice it to say that I probably won't be going w/ Dell when it comes to getting pre-built PCs, or any other company for that matter.

Also, since my board seems to be friendly towards ATI cards, another option could be to get a Radeon HD 7770. The only problem w/ this is that it requires a minimum of 4 GB of RAM and the OS is already using 2 GB of RAM, so wouldn't that make it impossible to run a game as well b/c there wouldn't be enough RAM to allocate for gaming?
 
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Flash bios back to 07 year, this is the easiest thing to do. Now regarding RAM, it was found that in different Dell models depending on the emotions of the trolls inside motherboard RAM could be maxed out at surprising sizes, in my case for an example, total RAM supported is 8 GB, however I know now that the maximum RAM is 16 GB, so the yours, maybe latest BIOS gives you 8 GB, and when you flash back, you may get support for NVIDIA, but loose RAM to 4 GB instead of 8 GB. So be ready, just in case, if this is going to be the issue, you may consider new MOBO (and you will need new retail copy of windows). Typing from iPhone, so please pardon me for wall of text. LOL.
 
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I'll try flashing back my BIOS to 07. Although, I'll assume that just b/c BIOS is back to 07, doesn't guarantee that it'll support NVIDIA cards. I'd just hate to get a new NVIDIA card and find out that I'm still having the same issues. I'll see how much usable RAM if have on o7 BIOS. 4 GB of RAM is not enough w/ the OS and video card taking up 3 GB of RAM. That leaves only 1 GB of RAM for gaming, and that's not enough.

If I do have to get a new mobo, I guess I can get one that has an Intel 775 socket. That way I won't have to get a brand new CPU. I do have a retail version of Windows 7. My computer came from Dell w/ Vista 64bit. A few years ago my cousin got me a free copy of windows 7 32. It was free b/c the university he goes to has some sort of special deal w/ Microsoft that let's students get Windows for free.
 
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ok...let me make it clear to you.

i really don't understand how your card will use your system memory. your card already has a vram of 1 or 2gb and does not use system memory for graphic processing.

also 32bit windows supports a maximum if 4gb system memory 2^32 whereas 64bit supports a max of 128Gb 2^64
 
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Oh, yeah. That's right. Video cards come w/ their own RAM modules. I found that out when researching video cards. In any even, I actually managed to find a card that worked w/ my PC. It is an Asus Radeon HD 7770. It's not bad, but the inside of my PC is a bit crowded now. Those cables from the new PSU are pretty long for a case of my size. It's obvious that they were meant for bigger cases. I might have to upgrade to a bigger case w/ more room and better airflow, but that's probably best left for another thread. Either way, the unused cables and slack have been stuffed behind the slot where there used to be an optical drive.

I'm still a bit confused about the differences between a 32bit and 64bit Windows. I just go rid of my 64bit Windows partition b/c the driver for the new video card doesn't work w/ Vista. According to the software that came w/ my new video card, it works on Windows XP, but completely skips over Vista, lol. Anyways, now I'm using the Windows 7 32bit. I'll check it again, but I believe that when I checked to see how much RAM I have while on Windows 7 was still the same 6GB. Maybe I can get a Windows XP 64bit OS for cheap. I don't know.

Anyways, I'd like to thank everybody for their advice and assistance.
 
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